Tuesday, March 3, 2009

What dreams may come

Last night, my roommate and I rewatched Vanilla Sky. First off, I couldn't help thinking how much better the original version was. Abre Los Ojos was delightfully haunting. Vanilla Sky..not so much. I just find Tom Cruise being Tom Cruise incredibly distracting and somewhat irritating. Either way, the movie's take on dream worlds is interesting. Watching it again, started me thinking about Lucid Dreams, and whether I would ever choose to live in my own dream world.

I think not. My dreams have never been entirely pleasant. My subconscious seems to engage less in wishful thinking and more in fear baiting. Some of my friends have very clear dreams with everyday objectives related to the actuality of their lives (pass the test, get the guy etc). These lovely little dreams , with clear beginnings and ends, make sense without much analysis.

My dreams are just a mess of pop culture/scifi/ and general anxiety. There is always some horrible catastrophe that only I can fix; that always remains unfixed, till I wake up in a cold sweat. My dream world is like my real world but more stressful and on a ridiculous scale.

During the election, many people found themselves dreaming about the presidential candidates, but Barack Obama made a cameo in my dream only once before. Until last night, when the whole family was there. Apparently, I was entrusted to be Sascha and Malias babysitter. Michelle Obama and I, took the girls shopping at white house black market. I was showing Michelle a dress, that she had worn on The View weeks before, when she begins to have what looks like a panic attack. She inexplicably gets the shakes and is unable to speak. No one around will call 911. Some strange ailment has come over her, one that the doctors don't fully understand.

Finally, she gets taken away in an ambulance and I'm left to make dinner for Sascha and Malia. I realize that all I have is instant mac in the cupboard (this part is true to life). So I go to the Whole Foods near the white house looking for arugula. But the power is going out, and the whole store is closing down before I make it to the counter. Barack Obama is on his way home, and I have no food for the girls. The dream ends as the lights in the Whole Food go out.

6 comments:

Maybe on the contrary this is your maternal instincts coming out, which you often talk about not having. I think this is a mix of just real life worries, like what to eat and when to do food shopping mixed in with your obsession about politics:)

I have seen dreams like this may times before. You want to be Barack Obama's wife, but you are afraid you are not qualified. Which is true, because everyone knows Trader Joe's is closer to the White House than Whole Foods. And, the govt. chefs and WH kitchen are closest of all. MOM FAIL. Also, in this dream, you probably tried to find salmon- Freudian undertones we won't get into. So obvious.

Vanilla Sky. And yay for my shout out! "my roommate and I..." taht's me!Also got a shout out when you referred to your friends with clear meanings in their dreams. We both know my subconscious could get a little more creative in its metaphors...